Traditional / Arrangement Bob Dylan / 2:58
Musician: Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar / Recording Studio: Bob Dylan Garage Studio, Malibu, California: July–August 1992 / Producer: Debbie Gold / Sound Engineer: Micajah Ryan
“Step It Up and Go” is a variant of “Bottle It Up and Go,” written by Charlie Burse and recorded by the Picaninny Jug Band in 1932, and then two years later by the Memphis Jug Band and other groups. In 1937, blues harmonica player John Lee Curtis, known as “Sonny Boy” Williamson, accompanied by Big Joe Williams and Robert Nighthawk on guitar, also recorded a version as “Got the Bottle Up and Go” for the Bluebird label. In 1939, Delta bluesman Tommy McClennan released his version with the title “Bottle It Up and Go.” This song has since been performed and recorded by numerous artists, including Blind Boy Fuller and Leadbelly (1940), the duo Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee (1942), B. B. King (1952), and John Lee Hooker (1959), among others.
The words of the main character of the song follow the long tradition of the blues. The narrator’s girlfriend, Ball, is not the type to do nothing and to be pushed around (“Give a little bit, she took it all”). What is she doing behind the closed doors of her room with the curtains pulled down? “Front door shut, back door too / Blinds pulled down, whatcha gonna do?”
Dylan used the boogie-woogie style for his acoustic version of “Step It Up and Go,” an interpretation quite similar to Blind Boy Fuller’s. Once again, Dylan’s metronomic rhythm is as regular as on his first albums. It seems he played on a Martin 12-string, the superb D-35 of the 1970s.